European Kingdoms

Celtic Tribes

Latobrigi
/ Latovici (Gauls/Belgae)

In
general terms, the Romans
coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the
Celtic tribes of what is now
central, northern and eastern
France. The Gauls
were divided from the
Belgae to the
north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by
the River Garonne, and they also extended into
Switzerland, northern
Italy, and along the Danube.
By the middle of the first century BC, the Latobrigi were a minor
confederation that was located in the crook formed by the Rhine exiting
Lake Constance and turning northwards. They were neighboured to the north
and possibly the east by the
GermanicTulingi,
across the upper reaches of the Rhine to the south by the
Raurici and
Helvetii,
and to the west by the
Triboci (another Germanic
tribe), and farther on by the
Lingones.

The confederation should not be confused with the
Latovici to the south of
the Danube. Their origins are uncertain but it seems more than coincidental
that there was another tribe of the same name which seems to have travelled
from north of the Danube to find a homeland. This tribe of Latobrigi may
well have had the same origins, possibly as part of the
Norici before they crossed
the Danube. If so then they seem to bear a
Germanic element which
would mark them out as possible Belgae rather than Gauls.

The tribe's name is a rather confusing one to break down, with far too many
possibilities available. Proto-Celtic has *lat-, meaning 'day', or *latākā-,
*latjo-, meaning 'mud', or *lati-, meaning 'liquor', or even *lāto-, meaning
'lust' - take your pick. The second part, 'brig', is a fort and 'vic' is a
fight, while 'wik' in proto-Celtic means 'village'. Perhaps the tribe were
the Latovici and their town was Latobrigi, although none of the options for
'lato' really makes much sense. However, 'wik' has alternatives available,
including *wīk-ā- (?), meaning 'fight', *wik-ari- (?), meaning 'fierce',
*wik-e/o-, again meaning 'fight', or the aforementioned *wīko-, *wīku-,
meaning 'village'. A literal interpretation of 'lust fort' ('lato-brigi')
brings to mind 'Roaring Camp', but a more hilarious approach would be to
assume that some tribal leader was particularly well known as a cocksman and
was given the nickname Latos, meaning lust, along the same lines as Morgan
the Goat in the film, The Man Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain.
If that interpretation is too irreverent, perhaps 'the day fort [people] of
the 'day bridge' is preferable.

As that explanation is pretty unsatisfactory, a leap would be to suggest
that the proto-Celtic word list is missing something. In modern
Welsh
the 'L' would have doubled and the 't' softened to a 'dd' (which is voiced
as a 'th'), all of which provides the much more satisfying 'lladd' [lladd-;
3.s. & 2.s.imp. lladd] (v.), meaning 'kill, slay, slaughter; cut'. This
would provide 'the fighting killers', which is pretty fierce... if not as
much fun as 'lust fort'.

Julius Caesar stated that the Celts who lived nearest the Rhine waged
continual war against the German tribes on the other side. Charles Athanase
Walckenaer (in his work in three volumes, Géographie ancienne, historique
et comparée des Gaules, 1839, with a new edition in 1862) considered it
certain that the Tulingi were in the district of Thiengen and Stühlingen in
Baden, and
the Latobrigi were based around the Donaueschingen area, where the Briggach
and the Bregge join the Danube. This opinion is founded on the resemblance
of names, and on the fact that these two tribes must have been east of the
Rhine. Bruyge, a small place on the Bregge, and of course the Bregge itself
both seem to bear the tribe's name.

(Information co-authored by Edward Dawson, and additional information from
the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, and from
External Link:
The
Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars.)

61 - 58 BC

The
Helvetii are
coming under greater pressure from migrating
Germanic tribes who have
now arrived to their north and are occupying territory on the east bank of
the Rhine. They plan to migrate into the lowlands to the west, but their
proposed path will take them through the territory of the
Aeduii, a
Roman
ally, and the tribes in the way fear that the Helvetii will plunder and
destroy as they go. Orgetorix of the Helvetii dies before the planned exodus
can go ahead, but the tribe decides to stick to those plans. Aquitania seems
to be their target, where they hope to tie up with the
Boii who
have settled there, close to the Atlantic coast.

Julius Caesar recruits two new legions to face the threat, but groups
from several local tribes join the Helvetii, including the Latobrigi,
Raurici, and
Tulingi,
making them one of the largest and most powerful forces in all of Gaul.
They also unite themselves to the
Boii
who have crossed the Rhine to assault the
Taurisci. As the Helvetii
and their allies depart, they burn their villages and any food stocks
that cannot be carried. The statement is clear - they do not intend to
return. After some skirmishing, the Helvetii and the Romans face each
other at the Battle of Bibracte in 58 BC, just outside the Aeduii oppidum
of the same name. The Helvetii are mercilessly crushed by the six Roman
legions. Perhaps two thirds of their number, men, women and children,
are killed on the day, while another 20,000 are killed in the subsequent
pursuit.

The Roman troops of Julius Caesar prepare to face the Helvetii
and their allies (which included 14,000 Latobrigi) at the Battle
of Bibracte in 58 BC, outside the oppidum of the Aeduii tribe

The shattered remnants of the Helvetii and their allies are forced back
to their homeland, but having been greatly reduced, they will be unable
to fight off Germanic incursions that could also threaten Gaul. Julius
Caesar allows the relatively hospitable Boii to settle a buffer zone to
the north of the Helvetii and east of the Aeduii, but even this shift
leaves gaps for Germanic incursions, and one such incursion is already
underway to the north. Caesar receives a federation of chiefs from tribes
that include the
Sequani,
all of whom are suffering thanks to the
Suebic
invasion under Ariovistus. It is this campaign and its mixed outcome,
despite victory in battle, that triggers Julius Caesar's campaigns in
Gaul from this point onwards, which result in the eventual annexation
of the entire land into the Roman state. Following that, the history of
Gaul's population of
Celts
is tied to that of the empire.

25 - 15 BC

Augustus determines that the Alpine tribes need to be pacified in order to
end their warlike behaviour, alternately attacking or extracting money from
Romans
who pass through the region, even when they have armies in tow. He wages a
steady, determined campaign against them, and in a period of ten years he
'pacifies the Alps all the way from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian seas'
(written by Augustus himself). The
Brigantii
and their immediate neighbours are defeated by 15 BC, although whether or
not this includes the Latobrigi is unclear. It is just as possible that
they had been subdued by the Roman victory in Gaul in the 50s BC.

14 BC

Emperor Augustus creates the province of Alpes Maritimae (the maritime,
or seaward, Alps). It has its capital at Cemenelum (modern Nice, although
this is switched in 297 to Civitas Ebrodunensium, modern Embrun).